Night 61: The Sphinx's Chamber

[monkeyboy]

[From here]

Eventually, the doors gave way and spilled Goku out into an expansive room. It glittered and twinkled with the flicker of light, and the young child had took take a moment to ogle until he realized that he had come in here with a purpose. That purpose was huge and sitting right in the middle of the tall room.

It was a strange animal--More like the statue of a strange animal--and the source of the smell that clogged Goku's keen senses. The awe gradually faded and left him waddling eagerly toward the thing.

"I wanna ride it~!"

Comments

[monkeyboy]

"Alright, alright, I won't say nothin'," Goku agreed easily, still remembering how she had landed some sneaky attack on his head while his back was turned. He couldn't afford to give her a reason to cheat like that again. Instead, the monkey boy sat still on Taura with his long brown tail swaying back and forth behind her back; he played the role of a helper monkey perfectly and that, unfortunately, went for his memory retention as well.

As soon as Taura began talking, Goku forgot his promise. His big black eyes glazed over and his bored expression took on one of slight horror. "... What're you talkin' about? What's happening?!" What happened to the plan to fight stuff?

[overlimit]

Living, dead... and as Taura said, not a who but a what. "Right... riddles tend to rely on metaphors or wordplay. It's easy to start picturing people when you think about the living or the dead, but..." It could easily be something entirely different. Maybe even something that was never alive in the first place, but could be thought of as such...

When Goku chimed in, sounding confused, Rita shot a glare at him. "I said be quiet. Do you want to screw this up?" It didn't even matter if he knew what was going on or not, just so long as he could shut up long enough for the rest of them to work out the puzzle.

... Damn it, now she lost her train of thought.

[damned_monsters]

Well, this was off to a promising start. One of the challengers didn't even appear to understand what he'd agreed to.

Which, of course, was no trouble for the Sphinx, whose chances of victory were only increased by the boy's ignorance. Perhaps he would even be so foolish as to give a false answer. The Sphinx folded its paws before itself, its tail flicking back and forth behind it, eager to finally see a group fail. However, none of that showed on its face, and the only words to come out of its mouth were a reminder of the time limit the group was facing.

"Four minutes remaining."

[ninelivesonce]

"Damn," Taura hissed, again. "Things that can die, Goku. Not people. Name as many as you can."

She started rattling them off herself. "Animals. Plants. Hopes. Dreams. Power packs. Shields." This was getting them nowhere except more hopelessly confused. She looked at Goku again. The least she could do was keep him occupied while Rita thought, and she bet he could do more than that. Stupid ideas were only stupid if you left them at that or tried them out without thinking. And Goku was a great source of, er, non-traditional thinking.

"Or things you walk on. "Gravel. Sand. Snow?" Snow made a lot of different noises, depending on temperature, but it didn't die.

[monkeyboy]

"Uh, 'kay! Uhmm, uh... Dinosaurs, wolfs, trees, fishes--" When she switched to the ground, so did Goku unconsciously. "Dirt, rocks, grass..." His lists continued on like a stock ticker, constantly spitting out information without even truly processing anything.

"That one bird I hit, uhh centipedes, they make a crunchy noise when you step on them!" The image made the young boy laugh and almost teeter off Taura. "There's... dirt--Oh I already said that. Uhh... dirt? No!" Man, this was really hard!

[overlimit]

Things that could die, and things they could walk on... Those were trails worth pursuing. Taura did Rita a favor by listing some of the more metaphorical interpretations, as well as some items she may not have thought of right away. Machines could be considered 'dead' when they no longer functioned... but there weren't many that could be walked on, and most were far noisier while functioning.

Now which of those things made noise when walked on...?

Goku's rambling was becoming distracting again, though, and Rita had to stop to mutter, "Idiot," at him before returning to her thoughts. But those had already been disrupted by the brat's inane prattling. In her mind, she was picturing a 'crunchy noise', sort of like what she'd hear walking in the woods in the fall...

... Wait. Could that be...?

"What about leaves?" Rita asked suddenly. "They crunch under your feet once they've dried up, but fresh ones don't make any noise."

[damned_monsters]

The Sphinx gave no reaction as the three tossed out words and ideas, not even when one seemed to reach a conclusion.

Instead, he merely announced, "Two minutes, ten seconds remaining." Humans were more likely to make mistakes when pressured by a time limit. It was yet possible for this group to lose sight of victory in their haste.

[ninelivesonce]

"Sounds better than anything I've come up with. Go with it. We'll be ready if it's not."

She unstrapped the throwing star, and grinned at Goku. She didn't want to fight the Sphinx -- it was beautiful, and intelligent, and didn't seem to belong here at all. Was it trapped? There was nothing that seemed able to hold it here -- but the room was gilded more like a cage -- a brothel, almost -- than like a throne room.

Would it be disappointed if they were right? A fight seemed to be the only thing it had been looking forward to, if even that.

When they found a way out, she'd come back. There. Promise made, and she'd tell it. Once they'd given their answer, that was.

[monkeyboy]

"Ready?" Goku asked, not exactly on the same page with everyone else, but he knew what that smile meant. The monkey boy made it all the time, so while Taura grabbed for one of her weapons, so did he. Unsheathing his stick from its holster, his wide black eyes kept its critical gaze on the big beast in front of them. After all this walking and talking, he was really looking forward to a fight.

"Ready!"

[overlimit]

It looked like the others were willing to trust Rita's answer (well, Taura was. It was still uncertain whether Goku even knew what was going on), and so there was no time to waste.

Straightening her shoulders, Rita addressed the creature in a firm voice. "We've decided. The answer is leaves."

As an intellectual, it was going to hurt her ego a lot if she turned out to be wrong. Fortunately, Rita was pretty confident in her reasoning. This wasn't going to end in a fight.

[damned_monsters]

The Sphinx was silent for a moment, then let out a deep sigh. "Your answer is correct," it conceded with some hesitation. "You have earned your prize."

It lifted one paw, reached around behind itself, and retrieved a small, ornate shield. This, it presented to the challengers.

"This is the Coliseum Shield," it said, tone somber. "I have handed out many versions of it in my long days, but I have yet to hear of a man, woman, or child for whom it has brought anything but misery.

"In the ballroom, you might have noticed a door to the south--one of such intricacy that it either repulses or entices all who see it. That is the door to the Coliseum, and should you also carry the partner to this artifact, you will find yourself able to enter so long as you are willing to make a sacrifice. Should you survive the trials within, from which many venture but few return... You will be able to proceed further into the bowels of this heinous Institute."

These words, too, were recited in a dull tone that implied that they had been repeated many times before. When the shield was taken from its paw, the Sphinx's business was complete.

"That is all I can tell you. If there is nothing else, then I will return to my rest." Without waiting for an answer, the Sphinx raised its head, closed its eyes, and went still once again.

[ninelivesonce]

Taura let out the breath she'd been holding, and stepped back to an at-ease posture before walking up and taking the shield.

Then she leaned closer, her lips only inches away from the now-still Sphinx's ear. "You're trapped here, aren't you?" Her voice was a low whisper, though she didn't care if Rita and Goku could hear her. "You, um, don't have to try to answer that. I just wanted you to know that, if there is a way out -- I know, I know, you can't tell us...I just wanted you to know I'll be back. Or..." she trailed off, delicately. "Someone will." There, that covered death, dismemberment, and pint-sized one-way wormholes. Taura didn't make promises she couldn't keep. "I'll make sure. If that's what you want."

Then she held the shield out for Rita's inspection. Such a tiny thing, but they had both keys now, and Taura had a feeling she knew what the sacrifice might be. So many deaths, of late. She was living on borrowed time, in a borrowed body; would it even count? Only one way to find out.